GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

South Korea’s first large-scale solar power plant that can store excess photovoltaic energy in an energy storage system (ESS) opened in mountainous rural area Gangwon Province, east of the country’s capital Seoul.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Thursday, the 1.4 megawatt (MW) solar farm with an ESS of a 3.3 megawatt hour (MWh) capacity, dubbed ES Solar Power Plant, opened in Goseong, Gangwon Province.

In Korea where 15 wind power plants with the ESS are already in operation, it is the first time for a MW-class solar power plant applying ESS technology to open. The ESS is a device that boosts energy efficiency by storing up unused energy and controlling energy inputs on needed basis. With the ESS, a solar farm can generate electricity stored during daylight at night.

The plant, which cost 4.5 billion won ($3.96 million) including 2.4 billion won in solar power facilities and 2.1 billion won in the ESS, was the first case that has received the government’s incentives for the construction of a solar farm with the ESS.

Considering that there are about 21,000 solar power plants nationwide, the number of ESS-linked model is expected to grow across the country, said Kim Hak-do, director of energy resource department at the ministry. The government will introduce a special rate system for the ESS-supported solar farm as part of efforts to lower the initial investment burden on their operators.

By Ko Jae-man

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Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (Apr. 7, 2017)